Touch-input display devices with force measurement using piezoelectric pillars

ABSTRACT

A touch-input display device includes a substrate, piezoelectric pillars that are on and extend away from a surface of the substrate, and light emitter devices each coupled to a different one of the piezoelectric pillars. The substrate has power lines and signal lines. The piezoelectric pillars are electrically isolated from each other, and each of the piezoelectric pillars includes a piezoelectric material that generates an electric voltage across a pair of the signal lines responsive to an applied touch force compressing the piezoelectric pillar. The light emitter devices are each electrically connected to a pair of the power lines.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.15/045,660, filed Feb. 17, 2016, the disclosure and content of which isincorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

This present disclosure relates to user interfaces for electronicdevices, and more particularly to display devices having touch-inputuser interfaces.

Touch-input displays are a popular interface on electronic devices toenable users to touch select displayed information. Touch-input displaysare used in smart watches, mobile telephones, portable music players,tablet computers, and other electronic devices.

There are many available touch sensor technologies, but the market iscurrently dominated by two technologies. Low cost electronic devicesthat do not need multi-touch capability often use resistive touchtechnology, which measures change in resistance between pairs ofelectrodes within an array due to a physical touch. Other electronicdevices needing multi-touch sensing capability use projected capacitivetechnology which measures changes in capacitance between pairs ofelectrodes in an array due to presence of one or more capacitive coupledfingers.

SUMMARY

Some embodiments of the present inventive concepts are directed to atouch-input display device that includes a substrate, piezoelectricpillars that are on and extend away from a surface of the substrate, andlight emitter devices each coupled to a different one of thepiezoelectric pillars. The substrate has power lines and signal lines.The piezoelectric pillars are electrically isolated from each other, andeach of the piezoelectric pillars includes a piezoelectric material thatgenerates an electric voltage across a pair of the signal linesresponsive to an applied touch force compressing the piezoelectricpillar. The light emitter devices are each electrically connected to apair of the power lines.

Some other embodiments of the present inventive concepts are directed toa touch-input display device that includes a touch display circuit, aninterface circuit, a processor, and a memory. The touch display circuitincludes a substrate, piezoelectric pillars that are on and extend awayfrom a surface of the substrate, and light emitter devices each coupledto a different one of the piezoelectric pillars. The substrate has powerlines and signal lines. The piezoelectric pillars are electricallyisolated from each other. Each of the piezoelectric pillars include apiezoelectric material that generates an electric voltage across a pairof the signal lines responsive to an applied touch force compressing thepiezoelectric pillar. The light emitter devices are each electricallyconnected to a pair of the power lines. The interface circuit measureselectric voltage on at least one pair of the signal lines to generatevoltage data. The processor is coupled to receive the voltage data fromthe interfaced circuit. The memory is coupled to the processor andstores computer readable program code that is executable by theprocessor to generate force data that indicates a level of touch forceapplied to one of the piezoelectric pillars based on the voltage dataand generate location data that indicates a location of the one of thepiezoelectric pillars that generated the measured electric voltage.

Other touch-input display devices, methods, and/or computer programproducts according to embodiments of the invention will be or becomeapparent to one with skill in the art upon review of the followingdrawings and detailed description. It is intended that all suchadditional touch-input display devices, methods, and/or computer programproducts be included within this description, be within the scope of thepresent invention, and be protected by the accompanying claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other features of embodiments will be more readily understood from thefollowing detailed description of specific embodiments thereof when readin conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a system diagram that illustrates a smart watch with a curvedflexible touch-input display device, a magnified view of an array ofpillar structures within the touch-input display device, and a furthermagnified view of one of the pillar structures within the array, andconfigured according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a cross sectional view of a curved touch-input display, whichmay correspond to the touch-input display device of FIG. 1, configuredaccording to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a cross sectional view of a curved touch-input display, whichmay correspond to the touch-input display device of FIG. 1, configuredaccording to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 illustrates a side view of a column of pillar structures withsome of the pillar structures being deformed by an applied touch forceand illustrates a corresponding graph of voltage generated bypiezoelectric pillars of the pillar structure being deformed by theapplied touch force, according to some embodiments of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 5 illustrates a further side view of the column of pillarstructures in FIG. 4, but with some of the piezoelectric pillars beingdeformed by a greater applied touch force than in FIG. 4, andillustrates a corresponding graph of voltage generated by thepiezoelectric pillars being deformed by the greater applied touch force,according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 illustrates an isometric view of a pillar structure configuredfor use in a touch-input display device according to some embodiments ofthe present disclosure;

FIG. 7 illustrates a cross-sectional view of the pillar structure inFIG. 6 along line 7-7 configured according to some embodiments of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 8 illustrates an isometric view of another pillar structureconfigured for use in a touch-input display device according to someembodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 9 illustrates a cross-sectional view of the pillar structure inFIG. 8 along line 9-9 configured according to some embodiments of thepresent disclosure; and

FIG. 10 illustrates a block diagram of a user electronic device thatincludes a touch-input display device configured according to someembodiments of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present inventive concepts now will be described more fully withreference to the accompanying drawings, in which embodiments of theinventive concepts are shown. However, the present application is not tobe construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather,these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thoroughand complete, and to convey example scope of the embodiments to thoseskilled in the art. Like reference numbers refer to like elementsthroughout.

Known touch sensor technologies for resistive touch and projectedcapacitive provide a relatively rigid touch panel component, which canlimit their use in many emerging products, such as those where curvedand/or flexible touch-input display devices are desired. At least someembodiments of the present disclosure are directed to providingtouch-input display devices that may be flexible and/or may be formed oncurved surfaces.

FIG. 1 is a system diagram showing a smart watch 100 with a curvedflexible touch-input display device 110. A magnified view of an array120 of piezoelectric pillars 2 within the touch-input display device 110is shown along with a further magnified view of one of the piezoelectricpillars 2 within the array 120, configured according to some embodimentsof the present disclosure. FIG. 2 is a cross sectional view of a curvedtouch-input display, which may correspond to the touch-input displaydevice of FIG. 1 after further flex induced curvature, configuredaccording to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

Although some embodiments are described in the context of a curvedflexible touch-input display device 110 for a smart watch 100, it is tobe understood that inventive concepts of the present disclosure can bemore broadly used in any sort of touch-input display device for any typeof electronic device.

The pillar structures 2 are on a substrate 200 that may be a rigidstructure that is planar or curved, or may be a flexible structure thatis bendable by a user. Power lines may be formed within the substrate200 and arranged in row X and column Y directions. Signal lines may alsobe formed within the substrate 200 and arranged in the row X and columnY directions. Although single conductive lines have been illustrated inFIG. 1 for each row X and column Y extending underneath the array 120 toelectrically connect to defined ones of the pillar structures 2, it isto be understood that each line can represent a pair of one of the powerlines and one of the signal lines or a plurality of various power and/orsignal lines, such as illustrated in FIGS. 7 and 9 and discussed furtherbelow.

The pillar structures 2 are on and extend away from a surface of thesubstrate 200. Each of the pillar structures 2 includes a piezoelectricpillar 610 and at least one light emitter device 600. The piezoelectricpillar 610 generates an electric voltage across a pair of the signallines responsive to an applied touch force compressing the piezoelectricpillar 610. The piezoelectric pillars 610 can be electrically isolatedfrom each other to inhibit the flow of electric charge, generated by auser's touch compression of one of the piezoelectric pillars 610, to anadjacent one of the piezoelectric pillars 610.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, at least one light emitter device 600 iscoupled to each of the piezoelectric pillars 610, and the light emitterdevice 600 is electrically connected to a pair of the power lines, e.g.,X1 and Y1, underneath the piezoelectric pillar 610. The light emitterdevice 600 may be any electrical device that emits visible or invisiblelight responsive to applied power. Non-limiting examples of a lightemitter device 600 includes a light emitting diode and a semiconductorlaser. A light emitting diode can include a PN junction diodes connectedbetween a pair of the power lines underneath the piezoelectric pillar610 to be selectively powered-on when a threshold voltage is applied bya display driver circuit 1050 (FIG. 10) across that pair of the powerlines. Each light emitter device 600 may operate as a separatelyaddressable pixel of the touch-input display device 110, or groups oflight emitter device 600 coupled to a same piezoelectric pillar 610 orcoupled to a group of adjacent piezoelectric pillars 610 may operate asa separately addressable pixel of the touch-input display device 110. Anindividual light emitter device 600 may be configured to emit multipledifferent color wavelengths, e.g., red, green, blue, by, for example,including a plurality of differently configured PN junction diodesand/or overlying color filter layers on a same substrate of the lightemitter device 600.

The pillar structures 2 can be arranged on the substrate 200 in the rowX and column Y directions, such as illustrated by the array 120. Thecorresponding piezoelectric pillars 610 can electrically connect todifferent pairs of one of the signal lines in the row direction (e.g.,X1, X2, X3, . . . ) and one of the signals lines in the column direction(e.g., Y1, Y2, Y3, Y4, . . . ), in the substrate 200 underneath therespective piezoelectric pillar 610. The light emitter devices 600 canelectrically connected to different pairs of one of the power lines inthe row direction (e.g., X1, X2, X3, . . . ) and one of the power linesin the column direction (e.g., Y1, Y2, Y3, Y4, . . . ), in the substrate200 underneath the respective piezoelectric pillar 610.

FIG. 3 is a cross sectional view of a curved touch-input display, whichmay correspond to the touch-input display device of FIG. 1, according tosome embodiments of the present disclosure. The touch-input displayincludes the pillar structures 2 extending away from a surface of thesubstrate 300. The substrate 300 may be a rigid curved structure, or maybe a flexible structure that is bendable by a user, including to theshape illustrated in FIG. 3.

FIG. 4 illustrates a side view of a column of pillar structures 2 withsome of the pillar structures 2 being deformed by an applied touch forcefrom a finger 330, according to some embodiments of the presentdisclosure. FIG. 4 also illustrates a corresponding graph of voltagegenerated by the piezoelectric pillars 610 being deformed by the appliedtouch force. The piezoelectric material of the each of the compressedones of piezoelectric pillars 610 responsively generates an electricvoltage across a connected pair of the signal lines. The voltage levelgenerated by the compressed ones of the piezoelectric pillars 610 candepend upon the amount of stress induced in the piezoelectric materialforming the respective ones of the piezoelectric pillars 610.

FIG. 5 illustrates a further side view of the column of the pillarstructures 2 in FIG. 4, but with some of the pillar structures 2 beingdeformed by a greater applied touch force than in FIG. 4. FIG. 5 alsoillustrates a corresponding graph of voltage generated by thepiezoelectric pillars 610 being deformed by the greater applied touchforce.

In FIGS. 4 and 5 the sizes of the pillar structures 2 relative to thefinger 330 and the amount of compression of the pillar structures 2responsive to touch force has been exaggerated for ease of illustrationand explanation. The amount of compression exhibited by the pillarstructures 2 can depend upon factors including: 1) the type ofpiezoelectric material forming the piezoelectric pillars 610; 2)flexibility of the substrate 200; and/or 3) other structural elements ofthe touch-input display device (e.g., light emitter devices, anymaterial used to fill spaces between adjacent piezoelectric pillars 610,power electrodes extending through the piezoelectric pillars 610, sensorelectrodes extending through the piezoelectric pillars 610, etc.)

As explained above, the piezoelectric pillars 610 are spaced apart fromeach other on the surface of the substrate 200 and electrically isolatedfrom each other. The piezoelectric pillars 610 may be electricallyisolated from each other by an air gap between adjacent ones of thepiezoelectric pillars 610, and/or may be electrically isolated from eachother by an electrical insulating material formed between adjacent onesof the piezoelectric pillars 610. For example, side surfaces of each ofthe piezoelectric pillars 610 may be coated with an electricalinsulating material and/or spaces between the piezoelectric pillars 610may be filled with an electrical insulating material.

FIG. 6 illustrates an isometric view of a pillar structure 2, which cancorrespond to one of the pillar structures 2 illustrated in FIG. 1, isconfigured for use in a touch-input display device. FIG. 7 illustrates across-sectional view of the pillar structure 2 in FIG. 6 along line 7-7configured according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

Referring to the example cross-sectional view of FIG. 7, the pillarstructure 2 includes a substrate 790, a piezoelectric pillar 610, and alight emitter device 600. The substrate 790 has embedded power lines 732and 736 and embedded signal lines 722 and 728. The piezoelectric pillar610 is on and extends away from a surface of the substrate 790. Thepiezoelectric pillar 610 is formed from a piezoelectric material thatgenerates an electric voltage across the signal lines 722 and 728responsive to an applied touch force compressing the piezoelectricpillar 610. The piezoelectric material may include, but is not limitedto, barium titanate, lead titanate, and/or lead zirconate titanate.

The piezoelectric pillar 610 has a proximate end attached to thesubstrate 790 and a distal end opposite to the proximate end. The distalend has a substantially planar surface and the light emitter device 600is coupled to the substantially planar surface of the distal end of thepiezoelectric pillar 610.

The pillar structure 2 further includes a pair of power electrodes 700and 710 extending through an interior portion of the piezoelectricpillar 610 from a pair of the power lines 732 and 736 to electricallyconnect to contacts of the light emitter device 600. The pillarstructure 2 further includes a pair of voltage sensing electrodes 714and 716. The voltage sensing electrode 716 extends through the interiorportion of the piezoelectric pillar 610 from one of the signal lines 722to at least half way toward the distal end of the piezoelectric pillar610, e.g., adjacent to but electrically isolated from the light emitterdevice 600 or extending to a top region of the piezoelectric pillar 610.The other voltage sensing electrode 714 extends from another one of thesignal lines 728 to the proximate end of the piezoelectric pillar 610,e.g., directly contacting a bottom surface of the piezoelectric pillar610 and/or extending into a bottom region of the piezoelectric pillar610.

Configuring the pair of voltage sensing electrodes 714 and 716 is thismanner enables sensing charge generated between an upper region andlower region of the piezoelectric pillar 610 responsive to compressionof the piezoelectric pillar 610. As used herein, compression includesshorting of a length of the piezoelectric pillar 610 in a directiontoward from the substrate 790, and/or bending of the piezoelectricpillar 610 with resulting strain along one side and stress along theopposite side of the piezoelectric pillar 610.

In the example substrate 790 of FIG. 7, the power lines 732 and 736 areformed as conductive layers in the substrate 760 and arranged in row andcolumn directions. The signal lines 722 and 728 are also formed asconductive layers in the substrate 760 and arranged in the row andcolumn directions. The example substrate 790 has a stacked structureincluding: a support structure 742; an electrical insulator layer 740formed on the support structure 742; a power line 736 (e.g., Xdirection) formed on the electrical insulator layer 740 and extendinginto the page; an electrical insulator layer 738 formed on the powerline 736; another power line 732 (e.g., Y direction) formed on theelectrical insulator layer 738; an electrical insulator layer 730 formedon the power line 732; a signal line 728 (e.g., X direction) formed onthe electrical insulator layer 730; an electrical insulator layer 724formed on the signal line 728; another signal line 722 (e.g., Ydirection) formed on the electrical insulator layer 724; and anelectrical insulator layer 720 formed on the signal line 722. Thepiezoelectric pillar 610 may be formed directly on the electricalinsulator layer 720. The power lines 732 and 736 are therebyelectrically isolated from each other and from the signal lines 722 and728, and the signal lines 722 and 728 are electrically isolated fromeach other.

The piezoelectric pillars of the array 120 can be arranged on thesubstrate 790 in the row and column directions, and electrically connectto different pairs of one of the signal lines 728 in the row direction(e.g., X direction) and one of the signals lines 722 in the columndirection (e.g., Y direction). The light emitter devices 600electrically connect to different pairs of one of the power lines 736 inthe row direction (e.g., X direction) and one of the power lines 732 inthe column direction (e.g., Y direction).

With further reference to the piezoelectric pillar 610 of FIGS. 6 and 7,a height of the piezoelectric pillar 610 in a direction extending awayfrom the surface of the substrate (upward in FIG. 7) is, in oneembodiment, greater than any cross-section dimension of thepiezoelectric pillar 610 in a direction (X and Y directions) parallel tothe surface of the substrate 790 under the piezoelectric pillar 610.

FIG. 8 illustrates an isometric view of another pillar structure 800configured for use in a touch-input display device, such as the display110 of FIG. 1, configured according to some embodiments of the presentdisclosure. FIG. 9 illustrates a cross-sectional view of the pillarstructure 800 in FIG. 8 along line 9-9 configured according to someembodiments of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIGS. 8 and 9, the pillar structure 800 includes apiezoelectric pillar 920 forming a hollow tube with an interior tubularshaped area void of piezoelectric material. At least one of the lightemitter devices 900 is located within the hollow tube of thepiezoelectric pillar 920. The piezoelectric pillar 920 has a proximateend attached to a substrate 990 and a distal end opposite to theproximate end. A light conducting material 910 is within the hollow tubeof piezoelectric pillars 920 and extends from an upper surface of the atleast one light emitter device 900 toward the distal end of thepiezoelectric pillar 920. In another embodiment the hollow tube of thepiezoelectric pillar 920 is on at least one of the light emitter devicesso that light travels through the light conducting material within thehollow tube. Thus, a sub-array of plurality of light emitter devices canbe configured to shine through a same hollow tube of a piezoelectricpillar 920, and a larger array of the sub-arrays can be configured toshine through the hollow tubes of a plurality of the piezoelectricpillars 920.

The substrate 990 has embedded power lines 732 and 736 and embeddedsignal lines 722 and 728. The piezoelectric pillar 920 is on and extendsaway from a surface of the substrate 990. The piezoelectric pillar 920is formed from a piezoelectric material that generates an electricvoltage across the signal lines 722 and 728 responsive to an appliedtouch force compressing the piezoelectric pillar 920.

In one embodiment, the light conducting material 910 includes a lightconducting polymer, and may extend from the at least one light emitterdevice 900 to the distal end of the piezoelectric pillar 920. The lightconductive material 910 may be any clear or opaque material that allowslight from the light emitter device 900 to pass there through and exitthe distal end of the tube to provide light therefrom. The hollow tubemay extend from the proximate end to the distal end of the piezoelectricpillar 920.

In the example embodiment shown in FIG. 9, the at least one lightemitter device 900 is directly coupled to the substrate 990 at theproximate end of the piezoelectric pillar 920 within the hollow tube.The light conducting material 910 extends through the hollow tube fromthe upper surface of the at least one light emitter device 900 to thedistal end of the piezoelectric pillar 920.

The pillar structure 900 further includes a pair of power electrodes 926and 928 extending from a pair of the power lines 732 and 736 toelectrically connected to contacts of the at least one light emitterdevice 900. The pillar structure 900 further includes a pair of voltagesensing electrodes 922 and 924. The voltage sensing electrode 922extends through the interior portion of a wall of the hollow tube of thepiezoelectric pillar 920 from one of the signal lines 722 to at leasthalf way toward the distal end of the piezoelectric pillar 920, e.g.,extending to a top region of the piezoelectric pillar 920. The othervoltage sensing electrode 924 extends from another one of the signallines 728 to the proximate end of the piezoelectric pillar 920, e.g.,directly contacting a bottom surface of the piezoelectric pillar 920and/or extending into a bottom region of the piezoelectric pillar 920.

Configuring the pair of voltage sensing electrodes 922 and 924 is thismanner enables sensing charge generated between an upper region andlower region of the piezoelectric pillar 920 responsive to compressionof the piezoelectric pillar 920. As used herein, compression includesshorting of a length of the piezoelectric pillar 920 in a directiontoward from the substrate 790, and/or bending of the piezoelectricpillar 920 with resulting strain along one side and stress along theopposite side of the piezoelectric pillar 920.

In the example substrate 990 of FIG. 9, the power lines 732 and 736 areformed as conductive layers in the substrate 760 and arranged in row andcolumn directions. The signal lines 722 and 728 are also formed asconductive layers in the substrate 760 and arranged in the row andcolumn directions. The example substrate 990 has a stacked structureincluding: a support structure 742; an electrical insulator layer 740formed on the support structure 742; a power line 736 (e.g., Xdirection) formed on the electrical insulator layer 740 and extendinginto the page; an electrical insulator layer 738 formed on the powerline 736; another power line 732 (e.g., Y direction) formed on theelectrical insulator layer 738; an electrical insulator layer 730 formedon the power line 732; a signal line 728 (e.g., X direction) formed onthe electrical insulator layer 730; an electrical insulator layer 724formed on the signal line 728; another signal line 722 (e.g., Ydirection) formed on the electrical insulator layer 724; and anelectrical insulator layer 720 formed on the signal line 722. Thepiezoelectric pillar 920 may be formed directly on the electricalinsulator layer 720. The power lines 732 and 736 are therebyelectrically isolated from each other and from the signal lines 722 and728, and the signal lines 722 and 728 are electrically isolated fromeach other.

With further reference to the piezoelectric pillar 920 of FIGS. 8 and 9,a height of the piezoelectric pillar 920 in a direction extending awayfrom the surface of the substrate (upward in FIG. 7) is, in oneembodiment, greater than any cross-section dimension of thepiezoelectric pillar 920 in a direction (X and Y directions) parallel tothe surface of the substrate 990 under the piezoelectric pillar 920.

FIG. 10 illustrates a block diagram of a user electronic device 1100that includes a touch-input display device 1000 configured according tosome embodiments of the present disclosure. Referring to FIG. 10, thetouch-input display device 1000 includes an array 110 of pillarstructures, which may be configured according to one or more embodimentsdisclosed herein. A piezoelectric pillar voltage interface circuit 1010is configured to convert the electric voltage generated across a pair ofthe signal lines by a compressed piezoelectric pillar to a digital valuethat is provided to a processor 1030. The circuit 1010 can include anaddress converter logic device that converts an address value, receivedfrom a read operation signal from the processor 1030, into a selectionsignal that controls a multiplexer to pass-through a selected pair ofthe signal lines (e.g., a selected one of the row signal lines and aselected one of the column signal lines) to an analog-to-digitalconverter, which outputs a digital value representing the voltage levelon the selected pair of the signal lines.

The processor 1030 may include one or more data processing circuits,such as a general purpose and/or special purpose processor (e.g.,microprocessor and/or digital signal processor) that may be collocatedor distributed across one or more networks. The processor 1030 isconfigured to execute computer program code in the memory 1040,described below as a non-transitory computer readable medium, to performat least some of the operations described herein as being performed by auser terminal. The illustrated computer program code includes positiondetection code 1042 and force detection code 1044 that are processed bythe processor 1030 to operate according to one or more of embodimentsdisclosed herein for a touch-input display device.

The processor 1030 executes the position detection code 1042 to readvalues from the circuit 1010 to separately measure electric voltage ondifferent pairs of the signal lines, and generates location data thatindicates a location of the one of the piezoelectric pillars thatgenerated the measured electric voltage. The processor 1030 executes theforce detection code 1044 to generate force data that indicates a levelof touch force applied to one of the piezoelectric pillars based on themeasured electric voltage.

A display driver circuit 1050 individually addresses the light emitterdevice coupled to the array 110 of piezoelectric pillars by selectingone of the pairs of the power lines and supplies power to the selectedone of the pairs of the power lines. The position detection code 1042may cause the processor 1030 to individually addresses one of the lightemitter devices by selecting one of the pairs of the power lines andsupplies power to the selected one of the pairs of the power lines. Theforce detection code 1044 may cause the processor 1030 to operate toseparately measure electric voltage on different groups of pairs of thesignal lines, and/or the piezoelectric pillar voltage interface circuit1010 may be separately configured to separately measure electric voltageon different groups of pairs of the signal lines. The force detectioncode 1044 may cause the processor 1030 to generate force data thatindicates a level of a touch force applied to a group of thepiezoelectric pillars based on the measured electric voltage, and theposition detection code 1042 may correspondingly cause the processor1030 to generate the location data to indicate a location of at leastone of the piezoelectric pillars in the group.

The force detection code 1044 may cause the processor 1030 to respond toone of the measured electric voltages exceeding a threshold voltage bygenerating the force data, and the position detection code 1042 maycorrespondingly cause the processor 1030 to generate the location databased on the one of the measured electric voltages. The location datamay be generated to include a row reference value and a column referencevalue for one of the piezoelectric pillars centrally located within thegroup of the piezoelectric pillars.

The processor 1030 may communicate the force data and the location datathrough an interface circuit 1060 to another processor 1110. Theprocessor 1110 may include one or more data processing circuits, such asa general purpose and/or special purpose processor (e.g., microprocessorand/or digital signal processor) that may be collocated or distributedacross one or more networks. The processor 1110 is configured to executecomputer program code in a memory 1120, described below as anon-transitory computer readable medium, to perform at least some of theoperations described herein as being performed by a user terminal. Theillustrated computer program code includes a user application code 1122that is configured to provide operational functionality to a user of theuser electronic device 1100 and be controlled responsive to the forcedata and the location data received from the processor 1030 via theinterface circuit 1060.

Further Definitions and Embodiments

In the above-description of various embodiments of the presentdisclosure, aspects of the present disclosure may be illustrated anddescribed herein in any of a number of patentable classes or contextsincluding any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, orcomposition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof.Accordingly, aspects of the present disclosure may be implemented inentirely hardware, entirely software (including firmware, residentsoftware, micro-code, etc.) or combining software and hardwareimplementation that may all generally be referred to herein as a“circuit,” “module,” “component,” or “system.” Furthermore, aspects ofthe present disclosure may take the form of a computer program productcomprising one or more computer readable media having computer readableprogram code embodied thereon.

Any combination of one or more computer readable media may be used. Thecomputer readable media may be a computer readable signal medium or acomputer readable storage medium. A computer readable storage medium maybe, for example, but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical,electromagnetic, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or anysuitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples (anon-exhaustive list) of the computer readable storage medium wouldinclude the following: a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, arandom access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasableprogrammable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), an appropriateoptical fiber with a repeater, a portable compact disc read-only memory(CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or anysuitable combination of the foregoing. In the context of this document,a computer readable storage medium may be any tangible medium that cancontain, or store a program for use by or in connection with aninstruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

A computer readable signal medium may include a propagated data signalwith computer readable program code embodied therein, for example, inbaseband or as part of a carrier wave. Such a propagated signal may takeany of a variety of forms, including, but not limited to,electro-magnetic, optical, or any suitable combination thereof. Acomputer readable signal medium may be any computer readable medium thatis not a computer readable storage medium and that can communicate,propagate, or transport a program for use by or in connection with aninstruction execution system, apparatus, or device. Program codeembodied on a computer readable signal medium may be transmitted usingany appropriate medium, including but not limited to wireless, wireline,optical fiber cable, RF, etc., or any suitable combination of theforegoing.

Computer program code for carrying out operations for aspects of thepresent disclosure may be written in any combination of one or moreprogramming languages, including an object oriented programming languagesuch as Java, Scala, Smalltalk, Eiffel, JADE, Emerald, C++, C#, VB.NETor the like, conventional procedural programming languages, such as the“C” programming language, Visual Basic, Fortran 2003, Perl, COBOL 2002,PHP, ABAP, dynamic programming languages such as Python, Ruby andGroovy, or other programming languages. The program code may executeentirely on the user's computer, partly on the user's computer, as astand-alone software package, partly on the user's computer and partlyon a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or server. Inthe latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user'scomputer through any type of network, including a local area network(LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to anexternal computer (for example, through the Internet using an InternetService Provider) or in a cloud computing environment or offered as aservice such as a Software as a Service (SaaS).

Aspects of the present disclosure are described herein with reference toflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus(systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of thedisclosure. It will be understood that each block of the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented bycomputer program instructions. These computer program instructions maybe provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, specialpurpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus toproduce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via theprocessor of the computer or other programmable instruction executionapparatus, create a mechanism for implementing the functions/actsspecified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computerreadable medium that when executed can direct a computer, otherprogrammable data processing apparatus, or other devices to function ina particular manner, such that the instructions when stored in thecomputer readable medium produce an article of manufacture includinginstructions which when executed, cause a computer to implement thefunction/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block orblocks. The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto acomputer, other programmable instruction execution apparatus, or otherdevices to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on thecomputer, other programmable apparatuses or other devices to produce acomputer implemented process such that the instructions which execute onthe computer or other programmable apparatus provide processes forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks.

It is to be understood that the terminology used herein is for thepurpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended tobe limiting of the invention. Unless otherwise defined, all terms(including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the samemeaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art towhich this disclosure belongs. It will be further understood that terms,such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should beinterpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning inthe context of this specification and the relevant art and will not beinterpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly sodefined herein.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the figures illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods, and computer program products according to variousaspects of the present disclosure. In this regard, each block in theflowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portionof code, which comprises one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). It should also be notedthat, in some alternative implementations, the functions noted in theblock may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, twoblocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantiallyconcurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverseorder, depending upon the functionality involved. It will also be notedthat each block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, andcombinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchartillustration, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-basedsystems that perform the specified functions or acts, or combinations ofspecial purpose hardware and computer instructions.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularaspects only and is not intended to be limiting of the disclosure. Asused herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended toinclude the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicatesotherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises”and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify thepresence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements,and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of oneor more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements,components, and/or groups thereof. As used herein, the term “and/or”includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associatedlisted items. Like reference numbers signify like elements throughoutthe description of the figures.

The corresponding structures, materials, acts, and equivalents of anymeans or step plus function elements in the claims below are intended toinclude any disclosed structure, material, or act for performing thefunction in combination with other claimed elements as specificallyclaimed. The description of the present disclosure has been presentedfor purposes of illustration and description, but is not intended to beexhaustive or limited to the disclosure in the form disclosed. Manymodifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skillin the art without departing from the scope and spirit of thedisclosure. The aspects of the disclosure herein were chosen anddescribed in order to best explain the principles of the disclosure andthe practical application, and to enable others of ordinary skill in theart to understand the disclosure with various modifications as aresuited to the particular use contemplated.

In the drawings, the sizes and relative sizes of layers and regionsexaggerated for clarity. It will be understood that when an element suchas a layer (e.g., a conductive line, a semiconductor layer or aninsulating layer), line, or other structure is referred to as being “on”or “coupled to” another element, it can be directly on or directlycoupled to the other element or intervening elements may be present. Itwill be also understood that although the terms first, second, thirdetc. may be used herein to describe various elements, these elementsshould not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used todistinguish one element from another element. Thus, a first element insome embodiments could be termed a second element in other embodimentswithout departing from the teachings of the present inventive concepts.

Example embodiment have been described with cross-sectional views thatare schematic illustrations of idealized embodiments and intermediatestructures of example embodiments. Accordingly, shapes of the exemplaryviews may be modified according to manufacturing techniques and/orallowable errors. As such, variations from the shapes of theillustrations as a result, for example, of manufacturing techniquesand/or tolerances, are to be expected. Thus, example embodiments of theinventive concepts should not be construed as limited to the particularshapes illustrated herein but may include deviations in shapes thatresult, for example, from manufacturing. For example, an elementillustrated as a rectangle may have rounded or curved features at itsedges rather than an abrupt change.

While the inventive concepts have been described with reference toexample embodiments, it will be apparent to those skilled in the artthat various changes and modifications may be made without departingfrom the spirit and scope of the inventive concepts. Therefore, itshould be understood that the embodiments discussed herein are notlimiting, but illustrative. Thus, the scopes of the inventive conceptsare to be determined by the broadest permissible interpretation of thefollowing claims and their equivalents and shall not be restricted orlimited by the foregoing description.

1. A method of making a touch-input display device, the methodcomprising: providing a substrate with power lines and signal lines;forming piezoelectric pillars that are on and extend away from a surfaceof the substrate, the piezoelectric pillars are electrically isolatedfrom each other, each of the piezoelectric pillars comprise apiezoelectric material that generates an electric voltage across a pairof the signal lines responsive to an applied touch force compressing thepiezoelectric pillar; and coupling light emitter devices each to adifferent one of the piezoelectric pillars and electrically connected toa pair of the power lines.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein: thepiezoelectric pillars each have a proximate end attached to thesubstrate and a distal end opposite to the proximate end, the distal endhaving a substantially planar surface; and the light emitter devices arecoupled to the substantially planar surface of the distal end of thepiezoelectric pillars.
 3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:forming pairs of power electrodes, each pair of power electrodes areformed to extend through an interior portion of a different one of thepiezoelectric pillars from a pair of the power lines to contacts of thelight emitter device coupled to the piezoelectric pillar.
 4. The methodof claim 3, further comprising: forming pairs of voltage sensingelectrodes, each pair of voltage sensing electrodes connected to adifferent one of the piezoelectric pillars, one of the voltage sensingelectrodes of the pair extends through the interior portion of thepiezoelectric pillar from one of the signal lines to at least half waytoward the distal end of the piezoelectric pillar, and the other one ofthe voltage sensing electrodes of the pair extends from another one ofthe signal lines to the proximate end of the piezoelectric pillar. 5.The method of claim 1, wherein the piezoelectric pillars are each formedas a hollow tube and one of the light emitter devices is located withinthe hollow tube; and further comprising providing a light conductingmaterial within the hollow tube of each of the piezoelectric pillarsextending from a surface of the one of the light emitter devices towardthe distal end of the piezoelectric pillar.
 6. The method of claim 5,wherein: the light conducting material comprises a light conductingpolymer within the hollow tube of each of the piezoelectric pillars andextending from the surface of the one of the light emitter devices tothe distal end of the piezoelectric pillar.
 7. The method of claim 5,wherein: the hollow tube extends from the proximate end to the distalend of the piezoelectric pillars.
 8. The method of claim 5, wherein: thelight emitter devices are directly coupled to the substrate at theproximate end of the piezoelectric pillars within the hollow tube; andthe light conducting material extends through the hollow tube from thesurface of the light emitter device to the distal end of thepiezoelectric pillar.
 9. The method of claim 5, further comprising:forming pairs of power electrodes, each pair of power electrodesextending from a pair of the power lines to contacts of the lightemitter device within the hollow tube of one of the piezoelectricpillar.
 10. The method of claim 9, further comprising: forming pairs ofvoltage sensing electrodes, each pair of voltage sensing electrodesconnected to a different one of the piezoelectric pillars, one of thevoltage sensing electrodes of the pair extends through material of thepiezoelectric pillar from one of the signal lines to at least half waytoward the distal end of the piezoelectric pillar, and the other one ofthe voltage sensing electrodes of the pair extends from another one ofthe signal lines to the proximate end of the piezoelectric pillar. 11.The method of claim 1, further comprising: providing a force andlocation detection circuit that separately measures electric voltage ondifferent pairs of the signal lines, and generates force data thatindicates a level of touch force applied to one of the piezoelectricpillars based on the measured electric voltage and generates locationdata that indicates a location of the one of the piezoelectric pillarsthat generated the measured electric voltage.
 12. The method of claim11, further comprising: providing a display driver circuit thatindividually addresses one of the light emitter devices by selecting oneof the pairs of the power lines and supplies power to the selected oneof the pairs of the power lines, wherein the force and locationdetection circuit individually addresses one of the piezoelectricpillars by selecting one of the pairs of the signal lines and measuresthe electric voltage on the selected one of the pairs of the signallines.
 13. The method of claim 1, wherein: the power lines are arrangedwithin the substrate in row and column directions and the signal linesare arranged within the substrate in the row and column directions; thepiezoelectric pillars are arranged on the substrate in the row andcolumn directions, and electrically connect to different pairs of one ofthe signal lines in the row direction and one of the signals lines inthe column direction; and the light emitter devices are electricallyconnected to different pairs of one of the power lines in the rowdirection and one of the power lines in the column direction.
 14. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising: separately measuring electricvoltage on different groups of pairs of the signal lines, generatingforce data that indicates a level of a touch force applied to a group ofthe piezoelectric pillars based on the measured electric voltage, andgenerating location data that indicates a location of at least one ofthe piezoelectric pillars in the group.
 15. The method of claim 14,wherein: responding to one of the measured electric voltages exceeding athreshold voltage by generating the force data and the location databased on the one of the measured electric voltages.
 16. The method ofclaim 14, wherein: the location data comprises a row reference value anda column reference value for one of the piezoelectric pillars centrallylocated within the group of the piezoelectric pillars.
 17. The method ofclaim 1, wherein: a height of one of the piezoelectric pillars in adirection extending away from the surface of the substrate is greaterthan any cross-section dimension of the piezoelectric pillar in adirection parallel to the surface of the substrate under thepiezoelectric pillar.
 18. The method of claim 1, wherein: thepiezoelectric pillars are spaced apart from each other on the surface ofthe substrate and electrically isolated from each other by an air gapbetween adjacent ones of the piezoelectric pillars.
 19. The method ofclaim 1, wherein: the power lines are disposed within layers of thesubstrate and arranged in row and column directions; the signal linesare disposed within layers of the substrate and arranged in the row andcolumn directions, within the substrate the power lines are electricallyisolated from each other and from the signal lines, and within thesubstrate the signal lines are electrically isolated from each other;the piezoelectric pillars are arranged on the substrate in the row andcolumn directions, and electrically connect to different pairs of one ofthe signal lines in the row direction and one of the signals lines inthe column direction; and the light emitter devices electrically connectto different pairs of one of the power lines in the row direction andone of the power lines in the column direction.